


Biology of Attraction

by GalaxyAce



Category: TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Closeted Character, Drinking, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Self-Esteem Issues, Smoking, bad boy yeonjun, unsupportive parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-01-10 21:28:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18416195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyAce/pseuds/GalaxyAce
Summary: After Beomgyu is kicked out of his parent's house and sent to Seoul, he struggles to fit in at a new school. He finds a reluctant friend in a classmate, Yeonjun, whose gritty personality is at odds with Beomgyu's perfectionist attitude. On top of their personality clash, things quickly sour between the two as Yeonjun realises how cheery Beomgyu always is, wishing he could feel the same.Eventually, the two end up crossing a line in their friendship, unsure if things could ever go back to normal.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> regarding the 'homophobia & homophobic language' tags: these topics will be addressed in this story. please be mindful if it's a trigger for you.
> 
> regarding the 'mentions of sex' tag: there will be a single vague allusion to sex in later chapters, but it can be perceived as ambiguous.
> 
> if needed, i am more than happy to put a warning note on the chapters that contain those tags to ensure you enjoy reading.

 

 

Moving to one of the most populous cities in the country away from your friends and family is every teenager’s worst nightmare, and unfortunately for Choi Beomgyu, that had just become his reality.

Dumped in the middle of Seoul, Beomgyu was confused and alone. Why did his parents decide to send him away? Why did they choose to tell him at the last minute? These thoughts raced through his head as he laid on his bed, imagining what tomorrow would be like.

A feeling of dread washed over him as he glanced at his brand-new school uniform. Laid out neatly over a chair, the patch with the school logo seemed to mock him from metres away. _You’re not good enough._ The gold embellishments quickly blurred as tears flooded his vision, unwanted thoughts of failure finding their way into his mind. With tears streaming down his cheeks, all he could do was sob quietly to himself and hope that the nightmare would be over soon.

 

☼

 

Sun peeked through thin curtains as an abrupt ringing permeated the once-peaceful air. Grumbling to himself, his feet found their way onto the ground as he shut his alarm off with a gentle touch. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he trudged over to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. Skin blotchy and eyes puffy, Beomgyu sighed to himself as he drenched his face with cold water, shuddering slightly as he did. Running his fingers through his brown strands, he shook his head, his fringe coming to rest neatly around his eyebrows in a style that wasn’t too perfect, but not too careless either. Reaching for his cosmetics bag, he wondered if he should or shouldn't, that question quickly being answered as he was unable to resist the light orange bottle with a peach on it poking out from the top. Dabbing his favourite BB cream on his cheeks, he messaged it all over his face, the faint smell of sweet peach filling the air around him. Staring at his chapped lips now, Beomgyu debated on whether or not they needed a little extra colour. Shrugging and throwing all care out the window, he dug around in his bag for a certain product, smile gracing his lips as his fingers recognised the familiar cylinder tube. He swiped a pink tinted lip balm that tasted like strawberry across his lips, smacking them together and pouting at himself in the mirror. Satisfied, Beomgyu looked at himself again. No longer did he see the boy with messy hair, puffy eyes, and red skin, instead he saw the boy with glowing skin, bright eyes, and pretty pink lips. A little makeup always made him feel better.

Bland and unfashionable, Beomgyu hated the uniform already. Blues of any shade had never been his colour and that fact was becoming especially apparent to him as he looked down at the navy blazer. The uniform was snug against his body- too snug. Shifting uncomfortably, Beomgyu told himself that he had to break it in and then it would fit just fine. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he finally stepped outside and greeted the day. The weather was fine, not too warm and not too cool. Although, it was a bit windy, so he spent every couple seconds pushing his hair out of his eyes. Walking over to the bus stop, Beomgyu nodded at everyone who passed by him, offering them a polite smile. The bus stop was a small little thing, with a few plain, metal benches housed underneath a plastic hood covering. A few people were already gathered there, their attention captured by their mobile phone, or for some of the older people, a crossword puzzle. He didn’t have to wait long as he heard the familiar sound of a bus within minutes, and everyone at the stop perked up as they heard as well. Clutching at the strap of his bag tightly, he made his way onto the bus, albeit a bit nervously, his eyes fixed on his feet ensuring he wouldn’t trip over anything or anyone. Most of the seats were taken, but that was fine, Beomgyu didn't like sitting down on the bus anyway. It made him a bit sick to his stomach for some reason. He sighed as he found an open spot near the end of the bus, wrapping an arm around a pole and letting his bag fall to the floor next to his feet. He leaned his head against the pole as he stared out the window, buildings and cars seeming to rush by. Another sigh left Beomgyu’s lips as he scanned the bus discreetly, observing the people around him. There seemed to be a good bit of people his age or a bit older, probably all on their way to school or university. He shut his eyes for a few moments as the bus came to a gentle stop, the whirring of the doors were heard and then footsteps clacking against the metal floor. Beomgyu felt his body sway slightly as someone rushed past him, the smell of smoke filling his nose just seconds after, causing his brows to furrow and eyes to open. Out of the corner of his eye, Beomgyu swore he saw the offender dressed similarly to him, but then the bus jerked forward and all he could think about was getting his first day at a new school over with.

Stepping off the bus and back onto steady ground, Beomgyu looked straight ahead and saw his destination. Within minutes, he found himself inside the school unscathed, glad that no one noticed or cared enough that he was new. Pulling out his class schedule, he wandered aimlessly around hallways searching for a room called ‘B 218’. Standing still with a puzzled expression on his face, Beomgyu wondered if he’d passed the room already. He'd always had a lousy sense of direction, but this was possibly one of the worst times it could kick in.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, followed by a soft voice.

“B 218 is upstairs-” The voice said. “-if you’re lost.”

Beomgyu turned around to see a slightly shorter boy standing before him. Big eyes, thick lips, and a pointy nose, the boy’s features were almost too foreign for Beomgyu to take in. Not wanting to stare any longer, Beomgyu nodded and thanked the boy before rushing off to find the nearest flight of stairs. Pulling out his phone to check the time, he took the stairs two at a time as he realised he had less than four minutes to find his biology class.

Nearly running through the hallway, a bell rang, meaning Beomgyu was officially late. _Can’t even make it on time._ Groaning, he stared blankly ahead as a letter followed by three numbers came into focus, making an almost familiar sequence.

B 218.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he walked towards the door, hand resting on the knob for a few moments before turning it slowly. Beomgyu entered the room as quietly and discreetly as he could with his eyes glued the floor, wanting to see anything except the 20 or so pairs of eyes that were surely fixed on him in this moment. Gulping softly as he heard the chatter die down, Beomgyu made his way forward as calmly as he could before a loud voice and a hand slamming down on his shoulder interrupted him.

“Ah! This is our new student-” The deep voice pierced Beomgyu’s ears as his shoulder was slapped lightly. “-I’m Mr. Park. Would you mind introducing yourself to the class?”

_Yes, I would mind._

Lifting his head up to look around the room, Beomgyu felt his palms start to sweat as he saw people staring at him. They were surely judging him now. Beomgyu knew that as soon as he sat down, everyone in the class would be whispering about him, about how he looked, how his hair was styled, probably even about his shoes. He had never, in his entire life, wanted something to be over as badly as this.

“I’m Choi Beomgyu. I’m from Daegu.” He nodded and forced a smile, clenching his hands in tight fists. “I’m a junior.” He finished, proud of himself for not stammering. He thought it was a decent introduction, short and sweet and not too much. This was all the class needed to know about him, really. Beomgyu wasn't here to make everyone know about him; in fact, he was hoping to get through this year relatively unnoticed. He was hoping to keep that up through university as well. Looking back at the teacher, he clutched at the strap of his bag nervously, hoping he wouldn’t make him say any more.

“I hope you’ll all make him feel welcome.” Mr. Park said solemnly, raising his eyebrows at the class. “Go and take a seat over in row E for me. I’ll make sure he helps you get caught up.” The teacher said, pointing at another boy and sending Beomgyu on his way.

Shuffling through the rows of students with his head ducked down, he found his chair and sat down as quietly as he could as the teacher continued speaking at the front. Pulling out a notebook and pencil, Beomgyu started taking notes, listening attentively to everything the teacher was saying. There would be labs once a week and the person next to them would be their assigned lab partner for the rest of the year. Beomgyu nearly choked at that. He hated being forced to work with people, especially people he didn't know. He wanted to look at the boy next to him, but he was too scared to. Instead, he opted for sneaking glances at the boy beside him from the corner of his eye.

The boy looked rough and unfriendly - exactly the opposite of Beomgyu. Mentally cursing at his rotten luck, he was hoping the teacher would move him to another seat soon.

He didn't.

Nearly making it through the rest of class without uttering a single word, Beomgyu couldn't help but feel the other boy's eyes on him, scanning, judging, making assumptions. He was snapped out of his self-destructive thoughts by a light tapping on his shoulder.

“I'm Yeonjun.”

The boy's voice was deep and seemed to match how he looked as Beomgyu finally looked at him head-on. A round face with a head full of light brown hair stared back at him. The boy, Yeonjun, allowed his chapped lower lip to hang open slightly, showing off a row of crooked bottom teeth.

“B-Beomgyu.” He offered a polite smile and nodded his head at the other boy, lips pressing into a thin line as he smelled something unpleasant and acrid.

Looking at the other boy’s fingers, Beomgyu noticed the tips were stained a faint yellow, a sight he'd seen many times before in his own home.

“So, um, you’re from around here?” Beomgyu looked at the other boy expectantly, fingers tapping against this thigh underneath the table anxiously.

Yeonjun acknowledged the question with a quick nod of his head, a few strands of hair falling over his forehead and into his line of vision.

“Are you a junior, too?” Beomgyu asked.

This time, Yeonjun responded with a non-committal shake of his head.

Getting the message that the other boy wasn’t interesting in talking, Beomgyu turned his attention to the front of the classroom again until a bell rang, prompting every student to zip up their bags and file out the door. Beomgyu pulled out his schedule again, the paper wrinkled now from being shoved into his bag from before.

“Ah-” Beomgyu opened his mouth to speak, turning towards the boy next to him. “-do you know where C 223 is?”

“Mhm.” Yeonjun grumbled as he shoved his notebook into his backpack. “Down this hall and to the right.” He said hurriedly before rushing out the door to freedom.

With those vague directions in his mind, Beomgyu slung his bag over his shoulder and made his way to his next class, desperately trying to ignore all the shouting and noise that surrounded him as he walked through the hallway. His eyes fixed onto the floor like usual, he kept repeating ‘ _down the hall, to the right’_ in his head in fear of getting lost. Turning a corner just a bit too sharply, Beomgyu felt himself collide with something - someone bigger than him. Face flushing red in embarrassment, he looked up, eyes meeting another pair, and then another after that.

“S-sorry, I wasn’t-”

“-Looking where you were going?” Beomgyu’s sentence was finished by an unfamiliar voice coming from the taller boy. “It’s fine.”

The boy really was tall, but rather narrow as well, and friendly-looking. His face almost resembled that of a bunny’s - soft and round. His nose was a bit flat and his lips small as they turned up into a smile, dimples appearing in the sides of his cheeks as he laughed at Beomgyu’s mistake. His eyes nearly disappeared as he continued to chuckle, another voice joining in.

There was another boy next to him, slightly shorter and not as gentle-looking. Instead, this boy’s features seemed almost foreign with his nose long, pointy, and slightly bumpy at the middle, the bridge extremely high and prominent. Pairing that with two sets of triple eyelids, Beomgyu almost couldn’t imagine how someone could look so foreign yet so Korean at the same time. Looking down slightly, Beomgyu noticed this boy had another hand in his - the taller boy’s hand. Eyes widening as he realised what that could possibly mean, he broke his stare and cleared his throat to apologise again.

“Y-yeah, sorry-”

“You’re okay! Happens to us all.” The tall boy shrugged as he pushed gently past Beomgyu, the shorter boy trailing behind him, attached by their linked fingers.

Standing there stupidly for a few moments, Beomgyu collected himself and set out to find the next room. Following the serieses of numbers and letters, the one he was looking for soon came into focus in the form of a door nearly hitting him in the face.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” It was the same soft voice that spoke to Beomgyu just this morning, the same voice that helped him find his first classroom. “Did I hit you?” The familiar softness in the voice quickly turned into panic as the boy inched closer to Beomgyu, his naturally large eyes seeming to widen even more as a worried expression fell across his face. “Oh my gosh-”

“No, no, I’m okay-” Beomgyu assured. “-you didn’t hit me.” A small chuckle left his lips at the ordeal.

“Thank god.” The other boy breathed out a sigh of relief and let the size of his eyes return to normal - which barely made a difference. “Again, I’m so sorry.” He bowed slightly towards Beomgyu and made his way down the hallway, the sound of footsteps disappearing as he did.

Walking into the room, Beomgyu looked around for an empty seat and delighted when he found one towards the back of the room, isolated. Setting his bag down, he pulled out a notebook and pencil and sat with a triumphant smile on his face, proud that he had gotten here before the bell rang.

Droning on about integrals and derivatives, the teacher’s words were a continuous stream of monotony until the sound of the door opening interrupted him.

“You’re late.” The teacher’s tone was stern as he pointed a stick of chalk at the student.

“N-no, I just went to the bathroom-” That familiar voice again. Beomgyu looked up to see the same wide eyes that matched it.

The teacher just grumbled at the boy’s response, turning his back to the class as he resumed his writing on the chalkboard.

The boy just made his way to his seat towards the back of the room quietly, smiling at Beomgyu as he sat down in a chair one desk away from him.

“Hey-” The boy whispered, patting the empty seat next to him. “-come here-”

Beomgyu nodded and shifted a seat to his left, dragging his notebook over the desk.

“I’m Taehyun.” The boy smiled widely.

“I’m Beomgyu.” He responded shyly.

“You’re new, aren’t you?”

Beomgyu felt his face heat up. Nodding, he affirmed Taehyun’s suspicion silently.

“Thought so. If you need help figuring out where your classes are, you can ask me!” Taehyun offered. “I’m a junior too.”

“O-oh, how did you know that I’m a junior?” Beomgyu stammered slightly.

“I saw it on your class schedule before first class, sorry-” Taehyun shrugged. “-didn’t mean to be nosy, but we may have more classes together!” He whisper-yelled, trying to convey his excitement, but also not wanting the teacher to scold him.

Beomgyu laughed quietly. “I hope so.”

Taehyun was easy to befriend, much to Beomgyu’s delight. He didn’t have to do much talking, which he really enjoyed as well. He liked listening to Taehyun talk, his voice was gentle and soothing and they discovered that they had a good bit of things in common.

At the end of the day, the two walked to the bus stop together complaining about their busy day of classes like any other high-schooler would. Taehyun waved and smiled back at Beomgyu as he got off the bus, promising to see him tomorrow.

Just like that, Kang Taehyun was his very first friend in the big, lonely city of Seoul.


	2. Chapter 2

 

 ☼

 

“If you’d all clear your desks with the exception of a single notebook and pencil, we can get started on our second lab. We’ll be looking at samples of swamp water to see what kinds of organisms can be found.” The teacher’s stern voice echoed through the room. “The quicker we can get started, the quicker I can let you leave.” He offered before sitting at his desk and pulling out a book.

“Let’s just get this shit done fast.” Yeonjun murmured to Beomgyu, a pencil twirling lazily on his fingers.

Beomgyu nodded without looking at the other boy and began to set up the microscope in front of him, smiling as he saw the light at the bottom of the microscope turning on, bringing the machine to life. He couldn’t help but notice Yeonjun looking at him from the corner of his eye, a sour expression on his face. Not wanting to ask why, Beomgyu put on a bigger smile and turned towards the other boy. “Let me get started on making the slides; I’m really quick at it, I promise.” He held a fist up in the air triumphantly as he stood up, smoothing out his uniform blazer. “Would you, um, mind getting started on the chart?” Beomgyu asked hopefully. His bright eyes met Yeonjun’s dull ones and Beomgyu found himself a little shaken at the silent exchange. Not exactly afraid, but not exactly feeling secure either, Beomgyu turned around to head over to the sink, picking up a few glass slides along the way.

The lab seemed to drag on for hours and Beomgyu wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of that classroom - to get the hell away from Yeonjun. The way he looked at Beomgyu was almost predatory, and Beomgyu felt even more insecure than usual, afraid that something was wrong or out of place on him. Was a tuft of hair sticking up? Was the light making his tinted BB cream look weird? Did he use too much pink lip balm and it ended up looking too dramatic? Trying to make polite conversation as he stared at the organisms under the microscope, Beomgyu shifted the knobs on either side of the machine and turned his body slightly towards Yeonjun.

“So, you’re not a junior, does that mean you’re a senior?”

“Yep.” Yeonjun responded, scribbling something down on the paper in front of him.

“Ah, cool. Why are you in this class then?” Beomgyu asked again, still staring into the microscope.

Yeonjun furrowed his brows at the question and looked sharply at Beomgyu, as if he’d just asked him the most offencive thing. “Because I need to take it?” His tone was sharp and Beomgyu was slightly taken aback, not knowing that his simple question deserved to be answered like that - not knowing that he deserved to be glared at like that.

“Fair enough.” Beomgyu tried to remain cheerful. “Look, you can see him. Wanna check it out?” He said excitedly, pointing at the microscope.

Shaking his head, Yeonjun turned his attention to the paper in front of him and continued to drag his pencil across the surface in jagged lines.

“Um, alright-” Beomgyu sighed and thought about what to do next. “-well, we have the information we need here,” He pointed at the microscope. “Do you want me to sketch how it looks at 200x and 400x?” Hoping for a verbal response from the other boy, Beomgyu looked over at him almost pleadingly, swearing he saw Yeonjun’s perpetually stony gaze softening for just a split second-

-before hardening again right after.

Yeonjun shrugged and pushed the piece of paper over to Beomgyu.

Looking down at the sheet, Beomgyu cringed internally. Yeonjun’s name was scrawled at the top in possibly the worst Hangul he’d ever seen. “C-can I just put my name under yours?” Beomgyu looked over at the the other boy who was chewing on something obnoxiously, a pink bubble inflating before his lips as Beomgyu realised he’d gotten chewing gum somehow. Yeonjun shrugged and continued chewing, dragging the tip of his pencil across the top of his hand lightly. “O-okay.”

Beomgyu wrote his own name neatly under Yeonjun’s, the quality in their respective handwriting almost jarring. He could have sworn he heard Yeonjun scoff as he finished writing his name, but he decided to ignore the rude noise that left Yeonjun’s lips and chalk it up to him just trying to blow a bubble and failing to do so.

The sketches turned out nicely so far and Beomgyu was proud, a happy smile on his lips as he finished the third and final drawing.

“What do you think?” Beomgyu pushed the sheet of paper gently over to Yeonjun’s side of the table and into his line of vision.

“Nice.” Came Yeonjun’s unenthusiastic response, a strange smirk on his lips as he looked at the paper.

“The chart will be super easy-” Beomgyu started, pointing to the uneven lines Yeonjun had scribbled on the paper before. “-I can do it real quick.”

Yeonjun just nodded his head once and mumbled something before pulling out his phone and tapping at the screen, his head propped up against his hand as he turned slightly away from Beomgyu.

“So, this is all we needed to do-” Beomgyu looked around the room to see everyone else still working and peering into the tops of their microscopes. “-I’ll go turn it in and maybe he’ll let us leave early.” Beomgyu said, gathering the paper in his hand and walking up to the front of the room. “Mr. Park, Yeonjun and I are finished with our lab.” He said meekly, handing his paper to the teacher.

Mr. Park grumbled as he glanced over the sheet. “I only see your work on this paper. Did Yeonjun help at all?” He questioned.

Beomgyu felt his palms go clammy. There were only two possible things he could respond with, yet he found it the most difficult thing to do so. It felt like a battle of morals, almost. Lie and say that Yeonjun helped, or tell the truth and admit that the other boy did nothing to help with the lab, with the exception of offering the most uneven lines for the chart. If he told the truth and admitted that Yeonjun didn’t help at all, he knew the teacher would punish Yeonjun somehow, and then Yeonjun would come after Beomgyu since he was the only person who could have told. However, the teacher’s grave tone of voice gave Beomgyu a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn’t be believed, regardless of his answer.

“He found the organisms at the 200x and 400x magnifications-” Beomgyu nodded enthusiastically as he spoke, hoping that would convince the teacher. “-and he made the chart.” He added, just for good measure.

Mr. Park grumbled again. “Alright-” He set the paper down on his desk and placed a hand over it. “-you guys can go.”

Beomgyu bowed quickly and made his way back to his seat. “He said we can go.” He said, smiling at Yeonjun.

“Alright.” Yeonjun replied, standing up and slinging his bag over his shoulder, his other hand shoving his phone back into his pocket.

“Yeonjun-” A loud voice called from the front of the room. Mr. Park gestured for the boy to approach him with a waggle of his finger. “-come here.”

Yeonjun glared at Beomgyu for a split second before shuffling to the front of the room.

“Yeah?” Yeonjun asked halfheartedly, his eyes looking everywhere but the person in front of him.

_Does he have no respect for authority?_

“I want you to participate more. I know your partner probably did most of this lab himself-” Mr. Park stated, looking directly into Yeonjun’s wandering eyes. “-I’ll accept it this time, but next time, I expect to see your own writing on the paper.” Mr. Park’s serious tone softened as he reclined a bit in his chair. “It’s not a bad idea to make friends, you know.” He shrugged, sending the boy off with a sharp nod of his head.

Beomgyu watched the scene unfold from his desk and felt a shiver run through his spine as Yeonjun turned around to glower at him, his eyebrows furrowed and lips pressed together in a tight line. The ordeal only lasted a few seconds, but to Beomgyu, it seemed like minutes. Yeonjun was scary. He was built, tall, and had these dark, hooded eyes that seemed to lack a conscience. Beomgyu couldn’t help but look over his shoulder the next few days in fear of retaliation from Yeonjun.

**Author's Note:**

> i don't usually finish my chaptered fics but i hope i finish this one :^)


End file.
